ASSESSMENT OF THE EFFECTS OF THE ZUIDER SEA CLOSURE ON THE HYDRODYNAMICS OF THE WADDEN SEA INLETS

Julia Vroom, Edwin Elias, Jamie Lescinski, Zheng Bing Wang

Abstract

Large hydrodynamic and morphodynamic changes have taken place in the western Dutch Wadden Sea due to the closure of the Zuider Sea in the early 1930s. Hydrodynamic simulations for three situations, viz. just before the closure, just after the closure and at present, have been carried out in order to investigate the hydrodynamic changes since the closure and to improve our understanding of the observed morphodynamic changes. The model results show a large increase in tidal range after the closure of the Zuider Sea. This increase continued to grow after the closure due to bathymetric change and sea level rise. The morphodynamic analysis focuses on the changed behavior of the ebb-tidal deltas of the Texel Inlet and the Vlie Inlet. Both ebb-tidal deltas have undergone a re-orientation in up-drift direction. Two possible explanations based on the literature for this change are discussed with the help of the hydrodynamic simulations.